Snow (musician)
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2008-07-14T23:10:22Z
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{{Infobox musical artist
|Img=Replace this image male.svg <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] --> |
|Name = Snow
|Background = solo_singer
|Birth_name = Darrin O'Brien
|Alias =
|Born = {{birth date and age|1969|10|30}}
|hometown =
|Died =
|Origin = [[Toronto]], [[Canada]]
|Instrument = [[Singing]], [[toasting]]
|Genre = [[Reggae]]
|Occupation = [[Singer-songwriter]]
|Years_active = 1993–present
|Label = [[Virgin Records|Virgin]]/[[EMI]]
|Associated_acts = [[MC Shan]], Marvin Prince, [[Junior Reid]], [[Ninjaman]]
|URL = [http://www.snowontheweb.com www.snowontheweb.com]
}}
'''Darrin O'Brien''' (born [[October 30]] [[1969]]), known by his stage name '''Snow''', is an award-winning [[Canada|Canadian]] [[reggae]] [[musician]] from [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]. He is best known for the 1993 number-one hit single "[[Informer (song)|Informer]]".
== Life and work ==
Snow was born and raised in the [[North York, Ontario|North York]] district of Toronto. For much of his childhood, he lived in the Allenbury Gardens [[public housing|housing projects]], and at the age of 16 moved to [[Ajax, Ontario]].
Snow was discovered by a Jamaican-born DJ named Marvin Prince, while living in Ajax. The name Snow, which means "Super Notorious Outrageous Whiteboy", was given to him by Marvin Prince. Marvin Prince took Snow to [[New York City]] and introduced him to [[MC Shan]], who introduced them both to [[record producer|producer]] David Kenneth Eng and Steve Salem. Snow eventually signed a contract to record on their Motorjam/[[Elektra Records|Elektra]] [[record label]]. His [[1993 in music|1993]] [[debut album|debut]] [[album]] was ''[[12 Inches of Snow]]''. MC Shan and Marvin Prince produced the entire album while Snow was imprisoned for a year on an [[assault]] charge.
Upon his release from [[prison]], Snow's first single "[[Informer (song)|Informer]]," written by Marvin Prince, became a [[Chart-topper|chart topping]] hit. The album sold over 8 million records worldwide, with the single from the album "Informer" remaining #1 on the American ''Billboard'' charts for seven consecutive weeks. "Informer" has been recorded twice in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best selling reggae single in U.S. history, as well as the highest charting reggae single in history. A second single, "Girl I've Been Hurt", reached #19 on the Hot 100.
In 1995, Marvin Prince departed from Snow, and MC Shan worked on Snow's second album, ''[[Murder Love]]'', which also featured production work by [[Junior Reid]], [[Hurby Azor|Hurby "LuvBug" Azor]], and others, as well as guest appearances by Junior Reid, [[Ninjaman]], HalfPint and others.
Although Snow's subsequent albums performed poorly after Marvin Prince's departure, except in [[Japan]] and [[Jamaica]], he returned to the Canadian pop charts in [[2000 in music|2000]] with "Everybody Wants to Be Like You", and again in [[2002 in music|2002]] with "Legal", and is working on a new album with Red Zone and [[Trackmasters]] that was due out in 2007.
Nominated for nine [[Juno Award]]s, his one win was in [[Juno Awards of 1994|1994]], the [[Juno Award for Reggae Recording of the Year|Best Reggae Recording]] for "Informer".<ref>[http://www.juno-awards.ca/archive_past.php Juno Awards archive]</ref>
==Discography==
* ''[[12 Inches of Snow]]'' (1993) US #5, Platinum
* ''[[Murder Love]]'' (1995)
* ''The Greatest Hits of Snow'' (1996)
* ''[[Justuss]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Cooler Conditions]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Mind on the Moon]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Two Hands Clapping]]'' (2002)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.snowontheweb.com Official site]
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian reggae musicians]]
[[Category:Canadian male singers]]
[[Category:Irish Canadians]]
[[Category:Juno Award winners]]
[[Category:People from Toronto]]
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